Here is something we can do right now to reduce the toll of Covid: clean up our air. Clean energy, clean transportation, and energy efficiency will go a long way to cleaning up our air.
A new study from Spain has found that people living in areas with more air pollution were more likely to get sick when they got infected with Covid, and much more likely to have severe disease that put them in the hospital.
The researchers were able to draw blood samples from people in the study, to see if they had antibodies to Covid and how high the antibodies were. They also asked people about symptoms of Covid, Covid PCR tests, and whether they had been hospitalized with Covid.
They found that people living in areas with more fine particle air pollution (PM2.5) or more nitrogen dioxide (NO2) who got infected with Covid had higher levels of antibodies, were more likely to have symptoms of Covid infection, and more likely to be hospitalized or need ICU care. People living in less polluted areas were more likely to have asymptomatic Covid infections (no symptoms just positive tests).
Previous studies earlier in the pandemic showed higher risk of Covid disease associated with air pollution. But these studies were done at a time when people with symptoms were the only people getting tested for infection. This new study is the first to be able to test people’s blood for antibodies as well as whether they had symptoms or positive PCR tests. It is consistent with the earlier studies showing that people living areas with more air pollution were more likely to be sick (with symptoms) with Covid.
What can we do about this? As health scientists have been saying: we can clean up our air! We have the tools and technology now to transition clean renewable energy and transportation. We need more funding to support this.
In the U.S., because of our country’s environmental racism locating highways, factories, and power plants in our near communities of color, air pollution is not equitable and contributes to the health disparities we see. That’s why it’s so important that much of our funding for cleaning up air pollution go to front-line communities most impacted by air pollution and the health problems it creates.
Read the study of covid and air pollution here.
12/2/2021
